Many high profile brands are using social media these days.  But beware: just opening a Twitter and Facebook account won’t automatically help you reach your business goals.  Social media strategy is just as important as social media itself – perhaps more so.

Yes, you should definitely activate some sort of social media for your brand.  If not, a more visible, more social competitor may edge out your market share.

But you need to set clear goals for what you want to accomplish with social media.  Defining success early is a smart way to monitor ROI.

As e-Marketer recently pointed out in an article on strategy in social media, with more and more brands in the social media game, the bar keeps being raised on what users expect.  Only the savviest will survive.

On the consumer side, users of social media know the difference between those companies that are “faking it” and those that are legitimately immersed in social media.

For instance, despite their recent difficulties with Kevin Smith, Southwest Airlines is clearly invested in Twitter.  Dunkin’ Donuts is clearly invested in both Facebook and Twitter, and has appointed a specific employee (“Dunkin’ Dave”) to be the chain’s social media face.

Equally as important as “real”ness is keeping a close watch on how social media marketing reflects your overall brand direction.  If it does not, consumers will either be confused or, worse still, annoyed that they seem to be getting contradictory messages from the same company.  Starbucks in particular has done a great job of making sure that all company voices are whistling the same tune.

To kick-start a social media plan, determine what your organization wants to use social media to accomplish.  This can range from brand-building to lead generation to relationship building.  e-Marketer recently found 82% of brands are using social media for brand-building; most likely, your strategy will be a combination of multiple goals.

Remember, just like in life, relationships take time to build – and you should expect the same from the social media world.  You need to commit time to getting the results you are looking for.